• DudleyMason@lemmy.ml
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    12 hours ago

    Conversely, no train has ever been speeding in a schools zone, jumped a curb and killed a bunch of kids.

  • ButteryMonkey@piefed.social
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    12 hours ago

    I live a couple blocks from train tracks that are used for freight, they pass every 2 hours most of the time, and run 24/7. They shake my building when they pass, and I can hear them blast their horn for road crossings with the windows closed. All this to say trains themselves are nothing special to me as a thing that exists.

    I got to ride a subway (in Boston) for the first time back on like 2018-2019 or so, as a very much mid 30s woman, and even I got super excited for it. Like visibly, kid-seeing-train-for-first-time excited. My partner took a pic and titled it excitement. Dick.

    Then last year I took a train to Chicago and wouldn’t you know, exactly as excited the entire time. Only half of that was because I didn’t have to drive in a big city.

    I want trains!!! I want them to be fast and plentiful. I want to see trains all over the place, stopping in every single town. And I want them to do more than freight! Freight is good, don’t get me wrong, but we could do so much more, we used to do so much more!! The freight lines still have all the old passenger stops along them, most of them are still in decent shape but have been converted to storage or businesses, but that could be fixed pretty damn easily.

    I’m sad that we used to have trains but now I have to drive everywhere because rich people fucking suck.

    • madkins@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      As someone who lives near trains, this just gave me an idea. Why don’t we have speakers located at each stop? Then, the conductor can trigger those directional speakers as needed. If those aren’t working, then they can hit the “wake up the whole neighborhood” horns.

  • errer@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Do kids in european countries get as excited about trains given they are super common? I feel like my kids get excited because they rarely see trains, they’re kinda special.

    • Get_Off_My_WLAN@fedia.io
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      12 hours ago

      … given that they are super common?

      Oh man, I think it’s the other way around. In Japan, the country with the highest rate of passenger train usage in the world, rail fans are a well-known category of nerd.

      At one station, there was a mini museum and display of children’s train artwork. Saw kids proudly posing in front of it for their parents to take pictures plenty.

    • Lemmilicious@feddit.nu
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      13 hours ago

      Not sure if Portugal is the type of European country you imagine, but last month on a train I sat one row ahead of a child that would excidetly exclaim “another train!” (in Portuguese) every time one passed outside the window. Adorable!

    • Gloomy@mander.xyz
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      11 hours ago

      Trains, Traktors, Excavators, Bicycles, streetcars, wheel loaders, trucks, dump trucks, street sweepers, garbage trucks…

      Regardless of how common those are, my toddlers will loose their shit every single time.

      • SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social
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        11 hours ago

        A large part of humanities has breasts and men still party hard if they get to see some unexpectedly. Probably some women as well.

        Trains are cool because they’re trains, not because they’re rare.

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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      11 hours ago

      Yes, my 4yo will point it out excitedly every time he sees a train.